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Mahavira Preaching to the Animals

1432
Artist/maker unknown, Indian
Jainism is one of the ancient religions of India. The revered Jain text, the Kalpasutra, describes the events in the life of Mahavira, the last and most recent of the twenty-four tirthankaras (perfected beings, teachers of the path to salvation). After Mahavira obtained omniscience, he preached his first sermon from the center of a wondrous hall surrounded by twelve enclosures to hold all the types of human beings and animals in attendance. All men and animals listened peacefully as Mahavira expounded the basic tenets of Jainism. Jains believe that the soul is repeatedly reborn into different bodies, animal as well as human. Which body one gets depends on one's actions (karma) in the previous life. Mahavira taught the path to release from this cycle, one of the most fundamental precepts of which is nonviolence (ahinsa), not only among men, but also to all animals and other living beings. Here Mahavira, sheltered by a many-headed serpent, preaches in the wondrous hall, represented with its canonically correct three circles and four gateways. Around the circles appear pairs of usually antagonistic animals.

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Currently not on view